What you should know about food security in sub-Saharan Africa

“When people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy and active life.”

This is the definition of ‘food security’. Unfortunately this scenario is not a reality in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Global Food Security Index 2012, produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), recently highlighted the state of food security across 105 countries. Here is what the report had to say about sub-Saharan Africa:

A farmer in the DRC, which has been ranked as the world's most food insecure country.

Despite sub-Saharan Africa’s immense agricultural potential, the region performs relatively poorly in the rankings. From the 28 countries in the region included in the index, only South Africa (40th), Botswana (47th) and Ghana (68th) don’t feature in the bottom third of the rankings.

“Sub-Saharan African countries are the most food insecure. Burundi, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) take the bottom three spots. Each of these countries has done little to enable food security; they do not even have enough food available to meet the daily caloric needs for everyone in the country. In the DRC, the national supply amounts to 1,605 calories per person per day – 43% below the recommended level for adults,” notes the report.

Despite sub-Saharan Africa’s dire situation, the coming years could see an improvement in some of the countries. “Several of the sub-Saharan African countries that finished in the bottom third of the index, including Mozambique, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Niger, will be among the world’s faster growing economies during the next two years. Although still poor in absolute terms, rising incomes suggest that these countries may be in a position to address food insecurity more forcefully in coming years.”

OVERALL SCORE

AFFORDABILITY

AVAILABILITY

QUALITY AND SAFETY

1. South Africa

61.7

1. South Africa

61.1

1. South Africa

63.6

1. South Africa

57.9

2. Botswana

56.5

2. Botswana

54.4

2. Botswana

62.0

2. Uganda

47.2

3. Ghana

43.1

3. Uganda

39.0

3. Nigeria

51.5

3. Botswana

46.8

4. Uganda

41.9

4. Ghana

37.1

4. Ghana

49.4

4. Niger

44.5

5. Cameroon

38.6

5. Cote d'Ivoire

36.3

5. Cote d'Ivoire

44.8

5. Cameroon

42.4

6. Cote d'Ivoire

38.0

6. Kenya

34.8

6. Benin

44.3

6. Sudan

40.9

7. Kenya

37.6

7. Cameroon

34.0

7. Mali

43.0

7. Ghana

40.5

8. Nigeria

34.8

8. Angola

29.1

8. Uganda

42.5

8. Burkina Faso

40.0

9. Benin

34.1

9. Niger

26.5

9. Kenya

41.7

=9. Rwanda

39.2

10. Mali

31.6

10. Senegal

24.4

10. Cameroon

41.5

=9. Senegal

39.2

11. Guinea

31.3

11. Ethiopia

23.9

11. Togo

38.4

11. Nigeria

37.2

12. Angola

30.5

12.Guinea

23.5

12. Mozambique

37.1

12. Benin

37.1

13. Burkina Faso

30.2

13. Burkina Faso

23.4

13. Guinea

36.7

13. Guinea

35.7

14. Rwanda

29.8

14. Mozambique

22.9

14. Malawi

36.2

14. Sierra Leone

35.5

15. (=) Mozambique

29.2

15. Mali

22.1

15. Madagascar

35.8

15. Chad

34.3

15. (=) Niger

29.2

=16. Rwanda

22.0

16. Zambia

34.8

16. Kenya

33.4

17. Senegal

28.8

=16. Sierra Leone

22.0

17. Rwanda

33.4

17. Tanzania

32.0

18. Sierra Leone

28.7

18. Benin

21.7

18. Burkina Faso

32.9

18. Burundi

29.8

19. Zambia

28.5

19. Zambia

21.6

19. Angola

32.8

19. Malawi

29.7

20. Sudan

27.6

20. Tanzania

20.8

20. Sierra Leone

32.2

20. Zambia

28.2

21. Togo

27.5

21. Sudan

20.2

21. Ethiopia

31.8

21. Angola

27.3

22. Malawi

27.3

22. Togo

18.8

22. Tanzania

30.3

22. Madagascar

24.0

23. Tanzania

26.8

23. Madagascar

16.8

23. Sudan

29.6

23. Mali

23.8

24. Ethiopia

26.4

24. Malawi

16.6

24. Senegal

29.2

24. Cote d'Ivoire

23.7

25. Madagascar

26.3

25. Burundi

16.5

=25. Burundi

26.2

25. Mozambique

23.2

26. Burundi

22.9

26. Nigeria

15.4

=25. Niger

26.2

26. Togo

19.5

27. Chad

20.2

27. Congo (Dem. Rep.)

13.0

27. Congo (Dem. Rep.)

24.2

27. Ethiopia

17.7

28. Congo (Dem. Rep.)

18.4

28. Chad

10.5

28. Chad

23.9

28. Congo (Dem. Rep.)

15.9

To produce the index, the EIU assessed food security across three dimensions: affordability, availability, and quality and safety.

Affordability

This category measures the ability of consumers to purchase food; their vulnerability to price shocks; and the presence of programmes and policies to support them when shocks occur.

The EIU notes that those living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the most vulnerable to high food prices. “Of the 28 sub-Saharan African countries covered in the index, food consumption accounts for 50% or more of household spending in 20 of them.” In Switzerland, New Zealand, and the US, only around 10% of spending goes to food. This means that people in these countries can easily divert a percentage of non-food spending to food, if high prices force them to do so.

However, low food prices can also have a negative impact on food security – especially in low-income regions such as Africa with many small-scale farmers. “Low prices depress smallholder farmers’ incomes and disrupt their ability to purchase food. Low prices are also a disincentive to produce, which can hurt crop output in subsequent years,” says the report.

The EIU suggests that policymakers can assist farmers with price-related risks by ensuring access to finance. Sub-Saharan African countries currently perform particularly poor in this area. “Financing for smallholders can help them invest in productivity-enhancing equipment so they can quickly adjust to low food prices by increasing production.”

Availability

The ‘availability’ category measures the sufficiency of the national food supply; the risk of supply disruption; national capacity to distribute food; and research efforts to boost agricultural output.

In Austria, the availability of food is the highest – 3,819 calories per day. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the average adult needs 2,300 calories per day. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where average food supply is below the daily adult requirement, with the worst performers being the DRC (105), Burundi (104), Zambia (102) and Angola (101).

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions most dependent on chronic food aid – which is seen as evidence of fundamental weaknesses and policy failures in food supply.

Investment in agricultural technology is one of the mechanisms that can help farmers increase crop yields and reduce vulnerability to climate change.

In addition to greater productivity, farmers also need access to markets to sell their produce. With the region’s poor infrastructure, access to markets has traditionally been a significant challenge to Africa’s smallholder farmers. “Food experts often note that smallholders could contribute significantly to global food supply if they have access to larger markets,” says the report.

Quality and safety

“Poor nutrition is a concern for wealthy and poor countries alike. Nutrition, not included in earlier definitions of food security, is now widely recognised as important, particularly in the 1,000 days between the start of a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday,” says the EIU. Obesity is also becoming recognised as a form of malnutrition.

Vitamin A and iron are the micronutrients often found lacking in diets.

To measure food safety, the EIU considered the presence of regulated food markets, the existence of a government entity to regulate such markets, and accessibility of drinkable water. Sub-Saharan Africa is, by far, the worst of any region in food safety, scoring 33 points less than the next region above it. “In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the presence of aflatoxins – a carcinogenic toxin produced by mould – in maize and peanuts has made food safety a particular issue,” says the report.